Vajrayana Foundation

Establishing an Auspicious Connection - A message from Lama Tharchin Rinpoche

“The Vajrayana Foundation is concentrated 100% on Dudjom Tersar lineage practice. I do believe that the Dudjom Tersar lineage contains the essential essence of the 84,000 Buddhist teachings and the 64,000,000 Great Perfection teachings. If we can hold the Dudjom Tersar lineage purely, both teaching and practice, I feel we will be keeping alive all Buddhist teachings.

"At Pema Osel Ling there is the outer activity of sangha group teaching and practice retreats and through the kindness of Lama Sonam Tsering the three root practices every day of the year. Inside our drupta (three year retreat) there are the inner three practices of Maha, Anu and Ati yoga. Through all of these activities we are keeping the Dudjom Tersar alive in its entirety.

"Traditionally in Tibet when we did pujas and retreats, people would help sponsor, whether they were there or not, by making offerings to support all the necessary activity. At the beginning of the puja or retreat the kyabto, along with the names of each person who helped sponsor, would be read out loud before the lamas, tulkus, and sangha. Then we would all pray.

"If you are able to come to an empowerment or retreat that is wonderful, but the other way you can establish tendrel is to make a material offering with faith, devotion and a pure mind. Then anyone doing the practice will also pray and your dedication of material offerings and the blessings of the puja and retreat are connected. Everyone’s merit and wisdom will be combined. Those in retreat can pray that any unwanted circumstances be removed for you and loved ones and that all wishes are fulfilled through this connection."

How to Make Offerings

• If you would like to offer to tsok or butterlamps click here
  
• To sponsor a specific puja activity (fire puja, tormas, etc.,) click here

The Request for Refuge  (Kyabto) is a beautiful dedication and offering prayer written by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche about the benefits of making offerings:

At the lotus feet of the entire precious gathering of awareness-holding yogis and yoginis, chief among whom are the sublime vajra masters, spiritual teachers, emanations, and learned preceptors, who are the supreme refuge and the sovereign lords of the Buddha families and the oceanic mandalas, I bow down with respectful body, speech, and mind and make this request: 

The following generous sponsors have made donations to Pema Osel Ling (Lotus Land of Clear Light) Dharma Center to support our puja [list of names read here].

The only hope in the minds of all beings throughout the vast reaches of space is for them to experience only happiness and well-being now and forever. The source of such happiness and well-being are the Buddha’s precious teachings, the embodiment of scripture and realization.  Chief among those who uphold, preserve, and propagate these teachings, the sovereign master in whom the four great rivers of transmission converge, who actualizes all the glorious enlightened qualities of these teachings by way of the vital points of the pith instructions, is our very own supreme crown jewel, the supreme sovereign lord, son of the Great Treasure Revealor Dudjom, our Lord of Refuge, Jigme Tsewang Trinley  Düdjom Tersé Kyabjé Jigmé Tsewang Trinley Norbu (Choklé Nampar Gyalwé Dé Pal Zangpo – Victorious, Glorious and Excellent in All Directions). May you and all the other holy beings who uphold the Buddhist teachings, wherever you may reside, remain firmly in the essential nature of the indestructible, indomitable three secrets (of enlightened body, speech, and mind); may you uphold the precious teachings of Samantabhadra’s heart, the innermost essence of all the sutras and tantras, by means of the three wheels (of study, accomplishment and activity, such that they spread and flourish throughout the entire world and endure for a long time; may the monastic community, the foundation of the Buddhist teachings, with their shaven heads and saffron robes, be harmonious and disciplined, their whole beings rich with the three trainings [in morality, meditative absorption, and discerning awareness]; may the inner spiritual community of white-clad, dreadlocked, awareness-holding yogis and yoginis [who practice] the Secret Mantra, the heart of the Buddhist teachings, maintain perfectly pure sacred commitments (samaya) and traverse the profound path [by way of] the two stages—the development stage of skillful means and the completion stage of discerning awareness, and the short path of union, the Luminous Vajra Essence, with all the wisdom and enlightened qualities of the path-and-level experiences and realizations ever increasing until they reach mastery; may those who sustain the Buddhist teachings be rich with glory, wealth, and enjoyments, and the scope of their faith, devotion, and magnanimity be as vast as the sky; and for these forever-unstinting sponsors of the teachings, who do not hope for anything in return for their generosity, in the short-term may illnesses, malevolent influences, obstacles, and all other undesirable, disharmonious factors be pacified; may their longevity, merit, glory, wealth, power, enjoyments, fame, family lineage, wisdom, and excellent qualities increase like the waxing moon; may they magnetize whatever they desire, such as the happiness and well-being of the gods above, the glorious wealth of the nagas below, and the intelligence and worldly goods of humans in between; and may all their infinite activities be effortlessly and spontaneously accomplished, such as annihilating the harm wrought by enemies, negative forces, obstructing spirits, as well as all hostility and viciousness, through wrathful enlightened activity. In the long term, may they heave great sighs of relief on the victorious level of the four kayas of union and the five wisdoms, and spontaneously accomplish the two kinds of benefit [for self and other].  For these faithful sponsors, whether or not they are physically present here in this magical-net mandala of the Three Roots, based upon their direct and implicit connections, it is as Jetsün Milarepa said: 

Between the hermit meditating in the mountains
And the donor who provides his or her sustenance,
There is a link that will lead them to enlightenment together.
Dedication of merit is the very heart of this link. 

This is certainly true for those of you gathered here today in this mandala, but it also applies to anyone who, motivated by excellent faith and devotion, has made a connection through faith-inspired offerings:  you all receive the merit together.  As is said:

When we hear of others performing virtue,
If we abandon negative thoughts of jealousy,
And rejoice with heartfelt happiness,
The merit we gain will be equal to theirs. 

Likewise, the faithful offerings of money and gifts that you have made with pure motivation will not go to waste; they will definitely be used as offerings to the Three Jewels, and through that power, for those who are still living, may all adverse circumstances, obstacles, and undesirable factors be pacified, all favorable circumstances and desirable things be effortlessly and spontaneously accomplished, and your life spans and Dharma practice reach consummation.  May sentient beings, both male and female, who have passed into the intermediate state [after death], be liberated from the suffering of deluded perception, and through first obtaining an excellent body in the higher realms, may they go on to swiftly and easily attain ultimate liberation, the precious level of omniscient Buddhahood.  May all nations where people have faith and devoted interest in the Buddhist teachings be free of the fear and suffering of disease, famine, and warfare, may they be rich with the seven fine qualities of the higher realms, and may all enjoy the glory and excellent qualities of a new Golden Age.  Thus, through the all-pervasive spread of happiness and well-being, in all ways and in all places may there be virtue and auspiciousness.  This is our profound aspiration.  Please do not cast us out of the vajra dome of your protection, but hold us in the great loving expanse of your wisdom in this life, the next life, and throughout all our lifetimes!  Please look upon us with compassion!  This is our supplication.” 

Written by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, May 2010, Drubnyi Donjo Gatsel (Joyful Grove that Grants Common and Supreme Accomplishments) Retreat Center (Drupta)